Clinical Outcomes of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine on Children and
Adolescents: Where do we Stand?
Abstract
Background: The BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine is the only vaccine offered to
children among all available vaccines. However, limited evidence is
available about the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 vaccines, especially
among children and adolescents. This review offers a comprehensive and
up-to-date overview of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine’s current information
on children and adolescents. Methods: The review was conducted following
the PRISMA guidelines; a comprehensive search was performed in PubMed,
Scopus, MEDLINE, and EMBASE databases for research publications COVID-19
published between December 2019 and October 2021. All studies reporting
on the outcomes of vaccinating children in their respective institutes
were included. Results: A total of 78 vaccinated children and
adolescents from 6 studies were included. The majority of symptomatic
vaccinated pediatrics were males (71%). The mean age was 15.6 years,
and the BMI was 24.1. The most common clinical symptoms were found in
chest pain (35%), fever (32%), and myalgia (17%). The most common
cardiac symptom in the EKG results was ST elevation, and 35% of
vaccinated pediatrics had elevated serum troponin. The hospitalization,
including ICU admission, was lower than in unvaccinated groups.
Statistically significant associations (P = <0.05) were found
in two symptoms (fever and headache) between the vaccinated and
non-vaccinated pediatric groups. Conclusions: Although we found better
outcomes in the vaccinated group versus the non-vaccinated pediatric
group, more studies are still crucial to further understand the specific
etiology underlying post-vaccination, particularly myocarditis,
psychological impact, and other cardiac clinical symptoms in children
and adolescents after receiving the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.